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FCC Funding

$170 Million Secured to Help Expand Broadband in Upstate NY

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as part of its Connect America Fund (CAF), offered funding to providers to service certain areas in NYS. $170 million of that funding that would have been allocated to NYS was declined. In a Bipartisan effort, Governor Cuomo, Empire State Development, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and the NYS Congressional delegation wrote to the FCC urging them to keep the unclaimed funding in NYS to help expand broadband. The BPO launched a solicitation of interest to potentially address these territories in October 2016 and the State continued an ongoing lobbying effort to secure the funding.

On January 26, 2017 Governor Cuomo announced that the FCC voted to allocate the $170 million to New York, keeping the funds in the State. The Federal funding will be used in conjunction with existing State resources to fund certain areas of Round 3 of the New NY Broadband Program, which will bring high-speed internet services to New York’s most unserved rural areas.